What If We Saw That Star?

What if we saw the star in the sky that night? What if we were awed by the birth of that new baby? What if we knew that a new creation had now begun? How would we live?

On Christmas Eve we spoke about the glory of God’s light in our dark world and how we can carry that light like the shepherds did. They looked at one another and said, this is too good to keep to ourselves and they told everyone. But then they headed back into their world of work and wolves and wayward sheep, and people who would let them down. We know this story all too well.

We list out those disappointments every year at this time. A sad summary of losses, tragedies, high prices, injustices, low expectations, evil, and the creeping sense of hopelessness. Frustration, anger, apathy. No sense now that anyone has an idea to make things any other way. Annus horribilis. The Latin phrase for a disastrous year.

What a way to start a new year, eh? Is that what we are looking at for 2026? NO, some will say, it’s going to be worse. Ugh. But wait, if we start with the negatives in our minds and short term memories, it will be harder to get over that horribilis as we move forward. Names matter, in a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy kind of way. So let’s change the pattern.

What if we start our year with the awe, the wonder, the glory of that star that led folks to search until they found the promised one. If we know he is here, the search has to be so much easier, so what stands in our way? Fear? Uncertainty? Unwillingness?

What if we really use the parables to guide us and shape our lives? What if we choose Love. God’s love, not our own imperfect love, but the love of Christ, the love for one another, the love of all creation. The Love of humility and compassion.

Love as the action we turn to first, loving all who come, loving those who frustrate, loving those who need care and peace, loving our enemies as ourselves. Loving the life that God has given us all and showing gratitude for that blessing in all that we do and say. What if our faith is always the first thing that people see and love is the first thing they feel?

What if we follow that Star?

For we observed his star in the east and have come to pay him homage–for he has already begun to shape us into a New Creation.